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Published: January 23rd 2009
This post is basically all about food. I had started with a mix of stories, but as in recent posts, I'm trying to be more thematic in my storytelling...so here we go.
I went to lunch with the other students in my new Mandarin class on Wednesday and had a fantastic meal. They knew this place--it's a small, sit with strangers midway through their meal type of place with almost entirely Chinese clientele. Before being invited, I had planned to go to a boring and easy Western place and have a sandwich and read my book alone. I very enthusiastically accepted the invitation. Before we ordered, they asked if I ate everything. Having glanced at the English titles on the menu I said "I like most things, but I am not a big fan of mutton." In all honesty, I don't know if I've eaten mutton, but I don't usually like lamb and with the name and the visual I get when thinking of or saying the word mutton, and the fact that I'm not a big red meat eater...well that's where I was coming from when I said not a fan of mutton. Of course, the restaurant was known
for it's mutton sandwiches, so we ordered them. Guess what? Best sandwiches ever! They were these little pita-like breads sliced open and filled with savory and very marinated shredded meat. I think it was the sauce, personally. The rest of the dishes were great too and we had a huge meal with tasty pear tea to drink for RMB 33 each (less than $5 USD).
Later in the week, I enjoyed a fabulous lunch at a new dumpling place near Mark's office with Mark and Zhihui (she works with Mark). I think it was good, if not better, than our previous fave dumpling place, Din Tai Fung. Also it's a bit less expensive. Mark and I shared a big dumpling that was served in a small bamboo basket. The dumpling fit perfectly in the basket and was served with a long drinking straw for the soup inside. After drinking the soup, we tore open the outer shell of dough and ate the crab meat filling. Yum. Hairy crabs are all the rage in Shanghai and are also the signature dish at Chinese New Year dinners, according to Zhihui. I'm a crab fan when the crab is already out of
the shell and in something. We have had do it yourself hairy crabs and the effort was not worth the resulting crab meat reward. We also had great spicy beans with ground pork. The best were the xiao long bao. These are the soup filled dumplings that have a crab or pork filling along with the boiling hot soup. You have to ever so carefully puncture the dumpling to allow the steam to escape before slurping the soup out and then gobbling up the rest of it. I could live on these and only these.
My final food tale of the week is about dinner last night. We had a great week of very normal, healthy zhonguo cai (Chinese dishes) prepared by our ayi. The kids are not the greatest when it comes to eating the dishes (another topic for another day), but Mark and I have been liking them. But then last night, when my defenses were low, I picked what I thought was a veggie off one of the dishes. Chewy, not a lot of flavor, but I didn't know what it was. I thought maybe it was a mushroom. Here's how it went down (all in
Chinese and pantomime when words escaped me):
Me: "What is that dish? Is it a mushroom, is it a vegetable?"
Ayi: "No. No. It is niu" (cow)
At first I thought she said milk which is niu nai but then realized she said cow when she showed me the stuffed animal moose she ran down the hall and retrieved from Emily’s room.
Me: (trying to seem open minded) "ahhh, so it’s cow. Is it meat?"
Ayi: "No." And then she pointed at the moose's stomach. And then at her own stomach.
I am sure I looked confused. And then she smiled a huge smile and laughed at my wide eyed expression.
Me: "It’s cow something?" To confirm that in fact, it was a cow part, and not the actual meat of a cow.
Then the frightening word “tripe” made it’s way into my brain. I screamed internally but kept smiling. Be the brave one, I coached myself. Stay strong. Keep smiling. So I went to the trusty dictionary and looked up “to try”.
Me: "I will try it," still smiling.
Ayi: "Shangainese people like this. We also eat the ear, the tongue…"
She lost my attention at ear. I was thinking, have I had ear and eaten it without even knowing it? That would suck. I want full credit for each and every odd food I sample here.
Me: "Okay, okay. I will try it."
Then I went to Google Images for visual confirmation of what I had interpreted from this exchange. Yep. I had confirmation.
I tried it--but it was not my cup of tea or bowl of parts. You know. Wasn't my thing. I am trying to eat less meat in general, and I do not really want to start adding other elements to my diet. At least not now.
Mark brought home some pork dumplings to supplement the non-intestinal dishes and we had a fine feast and saved the leftovers for the ayi's lunch the next day.
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Uncle Fred
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I feel your pain
Yes, I was served the same cow part at a Chinese banquet, it was gobbled up quite quickly, but not by myself. My father was also notorius for bringing home the cow parts. I have spent many a year trying to forget my scrambled eggs and brainy experience. But tongue on rye with mustard was uh, tasty.